Let’s face it, grading can be a major buzz-kill. No matter how hard you try to prepare, or manage your time, or stay on top of the mounds of papers you collect, grading can be a huge time-sucker.
Regardless of the ages you teach, grading is tough because you want to take time and give your students the valuable feedback they need, but you also don’t want to be spending hours upon hours reading through assignments or leaving personalized comments in the margins of papers until your fingers bleed. 😝
Luckily there are many resources available, one of them being Readworks, a platform that supports instruction and provides teachers with access to thousands of free literary articles and reading comprehension tools. Readworks has launched Roadworks Digital – a place where teachers can monitor student progress, interact with students directly, and leave quick and efficient, but valuable feedback.
One of the best components of Readworks Digital is the ‘written answer grading tool,’ which allows teachers to leave comments right on the students’ submitted work. This saves so much time (not to mention, paper!) and it also gives students’ the ability to see the comments and grade immediately.
Above is an example from the Readworks’ site. Here the teacher can give comments as to why the student received the grade he or she did, or what the answer is lacking. Not only does this scaffold the students’ understanding, but shows that the teacher is taking the time to communicate with the student, promoting learning rather than getting an answer ‘right.’
Here’s a short tutorial video on the program – it’s so easy to set up!
Readworks Digital also offers the ‘Article-A-Day’ feature, paired texts, vocabulary, question sets, a highlighting/annotating feature for students, automatic grading, and most importantly, the tool that allows teachers to comment directly into the assignments as they grade.
This is an amazing program that bridges the gap between formal, written word and the instantaneous nature of the internet – bringing the students their feedback quickly and informatively.
Have any of you heard of Readworks Digital? Used it in your classrooms? Have thoughts/ideas/comments to weigh in?
Feel free to share them below.